Training camp practice highlights, notes and quotes (8-23-11)

Quarterback Terrelle Pryor says he’s eager to get on a plane to Oakland so that he can begin his Raiders career. He wouldn’t have wanted any part of practice Tuesday, unless he enjoys stifling heat and bodies banging against each other.

On the flipside, Raiders coach Hue Jackson can’t get enough of the heat. He welcomed the 100-degrees or so weather and the added pressure it placed upon his players as they steam toward an exhibition game against the New Orleans Saints and inch closer to the regular-season opener.

“I’m not,” Jackson said. “It was very good. Can we get it like this every day? I like it when it’s hot and tough because that’s when you have to grind the most. And that’s what this league is all about.”

Running back Darren McFadden laughed about teammates complaining about the heat.

“Yeah, a lot of guys were saying it was hot today,” McFadden said, “but it’s one of those things, I’m telling them this is not anything at all. There’s nothing compared to Arkansas heat.”

*Linebacker Travis Goethel appeared on the practice field afterward, with his left leg wrapped from toe to thigh and walking with the aid of crutches.

He learned Tuesday that the left knee he injured is going to require surgery and likely force him to miss the entire season.

When asked about the prospect of signing former Raiders middle linebacker Kirk Morrison or former Seattle Seahawks middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu, Jackson said:

“Every name that’s out there is” a possibility,” Jackson. “At this particular point in time if a guy can help the Raiders win, win the AFC West and continue toward our goals then we’re going to look at him. I don’t think we’ll shy away from anybody if they can help us.”

*Second-year guard Bruce Campbell had a mighty impressive showing at practice, working mostly with the second team at right guard.

On several occasions, Campbell manhandled a defender and cleared a huge hole for the running back. It was enough to warrant another mention from Jackson afterward about the progress he is making.

Jackson said he is getting closer to settling upon the starting five for the offenive line. It’s apparent that Campbell is in the mix, despite missing the first two weeks or so of camp with a sore right knee.

*”You lost a step, baby?” That’s what free safety Michael Huff asked running back Darren McFadden as a long pass sailed over McFadden’s head, with Huff running stride for stride. The two laughed it off and jogged back to the huddle. Just Huff being Huff.

Jackson broke away from overseeing practice, jogged over to the lady and checked on her condidtion. Can’t imagine Bill Parcells doing that.

A Raiders trainer tended to the lady and made sure she was all right. Jackson posed for pictures with the lady and her group and signed autographs afterward.

*Punters and kickers have it easy during trainin camp. Oftentimes, they find creative ways to amuse themselves while their teammates are pounding against each other.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t prepared for the regular-season and don’t make the most of their limited opportunities.

Punter Shane Lechler boomed punt after punt during one drill. One of his punts traveled 80 yards or so in the air before returner Nick Miller reached it in a dead sprint toward his own goal line.

*Miller and Denarius Moore split the reps on punt return once again. As usual, Moore found a way to impress fans, coaches and teammates with his grace and athleticism.

Moore fielded a punt, took one step, stopped and switched directions as Chimdi Chekwa swiped at air and fell on his backside.

Moore also made a couple of impressive catches on balls that weren’t on the mark. His impressive showing was marred by a rare drop, even though the pass was high and he had to reach for it well above his head.

That’s a sign of how good he has been in camp, when he is expected to catch balls that are difficult plays for most other receivers.

*Jason Campbell learned under the guidance of veterans Mark Brunell and Todd Collins when he was a young quarterback with the Washington Redskins. He said he intends to extend the same courtesy to Pryor upon his arrival.

“You always support a guy because he’s a teammate,” Campbell said. We’re all in this thing for one common goal, and that’s to win. You don’t know what we’re going to do with him. We may use wildcat, we may use him to do different things. Your imagination as an offense only goes as far as you think.”

The fact Pryor has missed almost four weeks of training camp and two exhibition games is going to make it that much more difficult for Pryor to get up to speed. Pryor also is facing a five-game suspension at the start of the season.

“He’s already got, what, a suspension he has to go through,” Campbell said. “And he’s already missed pretty much all of training camp, we end camp this week. So there’s a lot of important information he’s missed out on. I think he can really learn a lot in his time and go from there.”

Jackson said he expects Pryor under contract and in uniform by the end of the week.

*Won’t steal too much of colleague Jerry McDonald’s thunder, given he is writing a feature on McFadden for tomorrow’s paper. However, it’s worth pointing out an anecdote from one of the first times Jackson met McFadden during the 2010 offseason.

Jackson crossed paths with McFadden in the weight room in Alameda and asked him about why he struggled his first two seasons with the Raiders.

We’ll let Jackson take it from here.

“I asked Darren, I said, ‘What is it that you like to run? You were a Heisman Trophy finalist. What was it that put you in that group of people?’ ” Jackson said. “And he said, ‘Coach, I’m used to running a certain type of run.’ And I go, ‘Well, why don’t we run them here?’ He said, ‘It’s not our style.’ And I go, ‘Well, what do you like to run?’

“And he rattled off about three or four runs that he really enjoys, and I said, ‘OK, they’re in.’ And he looked at me and said, ‘No way.’ He said, ‘Oh, no, they’re not.’ I go, ‘Yes, they are.’ And that’s what we did. And 1,157 yards later, that’s who Darren McFadden is.”

McFadden recalled the exchange and said he is grateful.

“I feel like every running back has certain plays and things they feel more comfortable running,” McFadden said. “It was one of those deals, he asked me what runs do I prefer and we talked about it and I let him know, and a lot of the runs he tried to put in for me.”

They want to identify the things players do well, highlight them and turn them loose that way.

“I don’t try to ask a player to something that he can’t do because, what good does that do as a coach?” Jackson said. “What good does that do for the player? It’s truly about the player. Find out what they can do and let them do that.”

*Jason Campbell’s fiancee lives on the East Coast. He said she experienced the 5.9 earthquake that rattled the region Tuesday.

“I haven’t had a chance to talk to them,” Campbell said. “I talked to her sparingly today. She was like, ‘Everybody was caught off guard.’ In D.C,, you hear something like that, you probably think, ‘OK, terrorist attack or something.’ “

B we are here at the same time we must be the same person. Wheres Beech so KK can really work himself into a lather ?

BeAlwaysUrselfCommittingtoExcellence2011

Only those who enjoy imbecilic sports journalism like Jerry CrapDonald…..hey Fatt Kidd remember Dmac would never be good? how about for sure Al will take Gholston? Fkin clown

noteasilyimpressed

nope

BeAlwaysUrselfCommittingtoExcellence2011

Kell is losing it mayne….his wife comes home late smellin like a porn studio,no homes sold and now he sweating Viagra for a refund. But a prez BO speech and shuck n buck dance on lezbo shows make him feel a lil bit better

CDERaider

Listened to the PFT interview w/Pryor. Impressed me alot especially considering it was ad hoc and he’d already been drafted he could have easily started talking a different tone than pre-draft when he was likely coached what to say.

(Questioned about not appealing the suspension)
Said he’d do what the organization wants but I’m not for it because he doesn’t want any negative news about him – ‘its not about Terrelle Pryor, its about the team.’

(about the contract)
‘Not sure why I have to wait, its b/w Rosenthal and Raiders, but all I want to do is play football. I’m not concerned about the money, I just can’t wait to join the team and find my place.’

(about what kind of player he is)
‘I just want to win, Just Win Baby, and be the best. Everytime someone says I can’t do this, it just drives me more. No one will work harder than me. ‘

Among other things, he said several times how grateful he is to be in the NFL and play for the Raiders. He also mentioned his understanding the need to improve his footwork and accuracy and he praised Ken Anderson for helping him out. He said he can’t wait to get the playbook and learn it as fast as he can and start helping the team out in anyway he can.

He came off as intelligent, humble, hungry and ready to prove the critics wrong. This is a totally different person and attitude that we got with JaPurp. I expect the results to be just as different too. I recommend a listen to the interview if you haven’t already.

When prez BO gets done with his vacation he is going to start focusing on JOBS!

lmao

ohioraider

Let it be known that Father Pride & Poise and the Turtle have stated that Hue Jackson is going to finally coach up all of Davis’ genius picks, and in so doing put to rest the sad legacy of all the coaches who’ve gone before and let the Old Creeper down, if not outright stabbed in the back.

RIP: Cable, Kiffin, Shell(redux), Turner, and Callahan.

…Bugel, White, Shell, and Shanahan.

Disloyal bastards all.

serious update required

854.KoolKell Says:
August 24th, 2011 at 5:54 pm
Parcells has too much stature for Al Davis. Making Parcells the scapegoat for management failings, would have been too unbelievable for Davis to accomplish.

—————————–

Can you imagine if Coach Davis tried to throw Parcels under the bus like he did some of his formers? Parcels woulda had NONE of that. Probably the reason Al didnt hire him. Al may be wiser than we think.

serious update required

861.TerrapinRaider Says:
August 24th, 2011 at 6:04 pm

The genius of Davis is not so much in drafting these freakish talents its finding a coach(es) that can develop it.

—————————————————–

So your saying after 40-50 years Al has finally found a coach who can coach these guys up? Awesome.

RaiderRetribution

Steve must be shooting for Jerry’s record for most post in a blog entry/topic.

serious update required

Say what ever the fck you want about Cable, but why could not Al have left that status quo intact from last year? Why did he have to dump Cable and Marshall? I doubt Hue would have left Al for a HC gig somewhere else. Just wondering. No big deal. Hope to hell HueJax can get it done in spite of Al.

noteasilyimpressed

VittorioTafur

Updates from S.F. Chronicle Raiders beat writer Vittorio Tafur

Follow VittorioTafur on Twitter
..

——————————————————————————–

Heard good theory re T Pryor. Won’t be here until after camp breaks Friday so Raiders can work him out in private, when practices are closed

between Davis, Blackstock, Francis, Williams, Boyd,& Gbadyu who makes the final cut at LB?

[McClain, Wimbley, and Groves are locks]

assuming no other LBs are signed or traded for.

Misses Beeecham

Just to let you know henry, I opened your ,mail frm the clinic today youu slut. Thye want youu to report immmediately to the hospita;l as your male asin prostitue gavce you quite a number of infections and diseases up you man hole. You piece iof garbage i’m outta your life . its a damn goood thing we domnt have six because i’d be contracting all your filth ye nasty heap of treash. i aleways new you was a homasectual.

DonManoukiansNeighbor

Raiders 4.0 Fastest team in history.

raideredoutL.A.

RaiderRetribution Says:
August 24th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
between Davis, Blackstock, Francis, Williams, Boyd,& Gbadyu who makes the final cut at LB?

”””””
history suggests Williams

RaiderSam

Alex7 Says:
August 23rd, 2011 at 11:41 pm
Tim Tebow vs Terrelle Pryor

Both are highly-decorated college players whose teams played to their strengths.

Both players look better when a play breaks down and they get to use their superb athleticism outside the pocket.

Both players struggle dropping back, reading the D, and getting the ball out accurately to the correct receiver.

Both players struggled with accuracy against the better teams on their schedule.

Neither player was a better prospect than Kyle Boller or Trent Edwards, two guys who also had accuracy questions but strong arms in college.

Both are known for having a high work ethic.

One made a lot of bad decisions while in college.

Neither of them will be top-15 NFL QBs.
===========================
Pryor hasnt played a single down. So you cannot judge his accuracy yet
Tim Tebow actually had a decent game against us
Pryor explained how to call out the blocking scheme against a blitz on Gruden’s QB camp
Pryor’s run ability is light years better than Tebow’s
Pryor’s made a lot of bad decisions in college which is 100% of the reason why he’s getting all this grief
If Gruden signed off on him, I believe it. Gruden was a QB’s coach with Green Bay
Even if you know the scout, he isnt a GM and FOURTEEN different GM’s went to look at his work out
Pryor went 31-4 in college and won two BCS Bowl games
His only weakness is that he didnt stay for his senior season to improve his stock.

dvrick

# bcz24 Says:
August 24th, 2011 at 4:13 pm

HE’s on the SEAHAWKS ROSTER STUPID
*************
They just released him jackass
*****************Just goes to show you are the real Seahawks fan.I don’t follow them but you must!!

dvrick

# J Hill Says:
August 24th, 2011 at 4:17

I’M STUPID

dvrick

# noteasilyimpressed Says:
August 24th, 2011 at 4:17 pm

bcz24 Says:
August 24th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
AdamSchefter Adam Schefter
Seahawks have signed running back Vai Taua and released defensive tackle Kentwan Balmer, a former 1st-round pick for SF.
*******************
Keep up junior

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
J.HILL you gotta keep up with what goes on in YOUR division, the NFC wEST – MR. 49ER!